ohmygoddessfandomcom-20200215-history
Nobuo Uematsu
Born in Kochi City, Kochi prefecture, Japan, Uematsu began to play the piano when he was twelve years old (his greatest role model early in life was Elton John) and is a self-taught musician. After graduating from Kanagawa University (his major was not a music degree), he composed music for commercials before joining Square Co., Ltd. (now Square Enix Co., Ltd.) in 1986. He went on to compose music for over thirty game titles, including the award-winning Final Fantasy series. In October of 2004, Uematsu formed Smile Please Co., Ltd. and continues to compose for Square Enix along with several other companies. Uematsu has written a column, "Uematsu Nobuo no Minna Sounano?", for popular Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu for several years. Two compilations of the columns have been released. Additionally, Uematsu signed to finish the Chrono Trigger soundtrack after his friend, Yasunori Mitsuda, contracted stomach ulcers (1). Uematsu currently lives in Japan with his wife, Reiko and his dog, Pao. While he is best known for his work in video games, Uematsu's work spans a wide-range of outlets. Some of those works include composing the theme song for the anime film Ah! My Goddess The Movie and writing music for top Japanese vocalists such as Emiko Shiratori and Rikki. Music style The style of his compositions range from stately classical-like symphonic pieces that are sometimes similar to the style of German composer Peer Raben, who is quite popular in Japan, to New Age, to hyper-percussive techno-electronica, similar in sound to some music by the band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, which is one of his stated influences. The music from the game series has grown to such renown, Nobuo Uematsu was named as one of the "Innovators" in Time Magazine's "Time 100: The Next Wave — Music" feature. Uematsu's approach to Final Fantasy music is diverse, encompassing many styles. This diversity along with the popularity of the music has resulted in a variety of musical performances including classical symphonies, rock and acoustic. Uematsu is an acclaimed composer who has been touted as increasing the appreciation and awareness of video game music, not just in Japan, but also in North America and Europe. A prime example is the Final Fantasy VIII theme song, "Eyes on Me", composed and produced by Uematsu. The theme song featured Hong Kong pop diva Faye Wong and sold a record 400,000 copies. It then went on to win "Song of the Year (Western Music)" at the 14th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1999 — the first time music from a video game won the honor. Concerts After a string of successful concert performances in Japan including a six-city, seven-show concert series titled "Tour de Japon – Music from Final Fantasy", the first stateside concert, "", followed May 10, 2004 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California selling out in three days. The performance featured music from world-renowned Final Fantasy video game series, performed by the acclaimed Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale and conducted by Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra director Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Due to the positive reception for this performance and clamor from fans for more, a concert series for North America was to follow. During 2005, he toured the United States with his concert . As of 2006, his music from Final Fantasy was presented in a concert entitled "Voices: Music from Final Fantasy" that took place on February 18 at the Pacifico Yokohama Conference and convention centre. Star guests included Emiko Shiratori, Rikki, Izumi Masuda and Angela Aki. The concert focused on the vocal songs from the Final Fantasy series and was conducted by the American Arnie Roth. At this concert, Nobuo Uematsu confirmed his participation with Play! A Video Game Symphony he wrote the official opening fanfare for. Play! is a symphonic world-tour featuring video game music, including Final Fantasy. Uematsu, along with long-time friend Yasunori Mitsuda and other composers such as Koji Kondo, Akira Yamaoka, and Yuzo Koshiro, was in attendance at the world-premiere of Play! A Video Game Symphony in Chicago on May 27, 2006, the European debut in Stockholm on June 14, 2006 as well as the Canadian performance in Toronto on September 30, 2006. His music from the upcoming Mistwalker game Blue Dragon was performed, as well. Contemporaries ★ Kenji Ito ★ Tsuyoshi Sekito ★ Yuka Tsujiyoko ★ Yasunori Mitsuda ★ Koji Kondo Video game soundtracks This is a list of games for which Nobuo Uematsu has composed music; please note that this is not a list of soundtracks released on CD. ★ Genesis (1985) ★ Cruise Chaser Blassty (1986) ★ Alpha (1986) ★ Crystal Dragon (1986) ★ King's Knight Special (1986) ★ King's Knight (1986) ★ Aliens (1987) ★ 3-D WorldRunner (1987) ★ JJ (1987) ★ Apple Town Story (1987) ★ Cleopatra no Mahou (1987) ★ Rad Racer (1987) ★ Final Fantasy (1987) ★ Nakayama Miho no Dokidoki High School ★ Hanjuku Hero ★ Final Fantasy II (1988) — Rescored by Tsuyoshi Sekito on the Wonderswan Color and PlayStation versions (2000, 2002) ★ Makaitoushi SaGa (a.k.a. Final Fantasy Legend) (1989) ★ Square's Tom Sawyer (1989) ★ Final Fantasy III (1990) — Rescored with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Keiji Kawamori for the Nintendo DS version (2006). ★ SaGa 2 Hihou Densetsu (a.k.a. Final Fantasy Legend 2) (1991) ★ Final Fantasy IV (1991) ★ Final Fantasy V (1992) ★ Romancing SaGa 2 (1993) — With Kenji Ito ★ Final Fantasy VI (1994) ★ Chrono Trigger (1995) — With Yasunori Mitsuda and Noriko Matsueda (also with Tsuyoshi Sekito for PlayStation version) ★ DynamiTracer (1995) ★ '' (1996) — With Yasunori Mitsuda, Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano ★ Final Fantasy VII (1997) ★ Final Fantasy VIII (1999) ★ Final Fantasy IX (2000) ★ Final Fantasy X (2001) — With Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano ★ Hanjuku Hero Vs. 3D (2002) ★ Final Fantasy XI (2002/2003) — With Naoshi Mizuta and Kumi Tanioka ★ Hanjuku Hero 4 (2005) — With Kenichiro Fukui, Hirosato Noda, Tsuyoshi Sekito, Naoshi Mizuta, Kenichi Mikoshiba, Ai Yamashita and Kenji Ito ★ Final Fantasy XII (2006) - With Hitoshi Sakimoto, Hayato Matsuo, Masaharu Iwata, and Taro Hakase ★ Blue Dragon (2006) ★ Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2007) - With many other composers"The Musicians", Masahiro Sakurai. 9. Retrieved May 22, 2007. ★ Lost Odyssey (Q4 2007) ★ Anata o Yurusanai (Q4 2007) "Anata no Yurusanai, RPGFan.com. 10. Retrieved August 30, 2007. ★ Cry On (TBD) ★ Final Fantasy XIII (TBD) — With Masashi Hamauzu Other works ★ '' (1991) — with Máire Breatnach ★ '' (1994) — with Risa Ohki ★ Phantasmagoria ★ '' (1995) — with Risa Ohki and Ikuko Noguchi ★ Final Fantasy VII - Piano Collections (1997) ★ Final Fantasy VIII - Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec (1999) ★ Final Fantasy IX - Piano Collections (2000) ★ Final Fantasy IX - Original Soundtrack Plus (2000) ★ Ah! My Goddess The Movie - Original Soundtrack with Shiro Hamaguchi (2000) ★ 20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY (2002) ★ '' — with Kana Ueda ★ The Black Mages (2003) ★ '' (2004) ★ Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (2005) Category:Composers Category:Real People